I came to Cannifest to support my local cannabis scene, and it didn’t disappoint. Sponsored by SAFFY THC, the first Black and Jamaican-owned cannabis farm in Humboldt County that offers the community sun-grown, greenhouse-controlled dank light dep flower that can be found at Zen Humboldt and Proper Wellness. What I discovered went beyond my favorite cannabis community, local glass artists, and funky, groovy music—what truly captivated me was the underground street art culture.
Cannabis businesses, dispensaries, and farms from all over California gathered to showcase their products. Local dispensaries like Arcata Fire, Proper Wellness, Phenotopia (Santa Rosa), Zen Humboldt, Moca + The Ganjery, and Heritage (Ukiah) were all in attendance, showing the diversity and dedication of California’s cannabis industry. Many out-of-towners were surprised to see street artists painting directly on the city walls. These murals stay up until Cannifest rolls around the following year, when they are painted over, and the cycle starts again.
“It’s too bad,” Ember from Soulshine Glass remarked to me. “I really liked some of the previous art.”
“Well, it’s kind of like your glass art,” I said, perhaps a bit dimly. “It doesn’t last forever.”
“Well, it can,” she replied. That’s when I realized I’ve been seriously mistreating my own glass collection.
The impermanence of street art is something I find absolutely beautiful. Artists create for themselves—to express a fleeting moment, connect with their community, push boundaries, and make bold statements. Knowing their work will eventually be covered challenges them to create again and again, evolving with every piece. It’s a cycle of relentless creativity. Maybe that’s why graffiti culture pulls at my heartstrings so strongly.
This year at Cannifest, I made it a point to chat with some of the street artists to hear what they had to say about their work and the impact of this ephemeral art form.
And of course, the music was on fire! The main stage lineup featured incredible performances from Lettuce, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Rainbow Girls, Mendo Dope, Oteil & Friends, the Nth Power, Junior Toots, the Magnificent Sanctuary Band, and a Wiyot Tribe Blessing to honor the event. Over at the Unity Stage, Deep Groove Society, Storytime Crew, Pressure Anya, One Wise Sound, Redwood Roots, and Marjo Lak kept the energy flowing.
Note from Conversations with Participants
Indoor growers will tell you they’re too good for trimming—“Trimming sucks!” Meanwhile, outdoor homegrown farmers will tell you how much joy they get from trimming fat, crystal-coated nugs—“Oh yeah, I love trimming!”
Take the poll: Where do you stand on trimming?
Natascha: So. What’s your tag name?
Artist1: Eesh.
Natascha: Eesh. Can you tell me some advice about tagging to unexperienced artists?
Artist1: Get in where you fit in.
Natascha: All right. Thank you very much. I love the colors that you use. Is there anything that inspires this piece that you did today?
Artist1: Artwork and vandalism.
Natascha: Hi. I’m here with a tag artist. What was your tag name?
Artist2: Oh, I don’t have a tag name. My name is Matthew Olivieri, though.
Natascha: Okay. Thank you, thank you. Matthew. Um, this is a very distinct cube.
Natascha: What kind of cube is this?
Artist2: Well, um. That’s a different question. Um, yeah, it’s.
Natascha: Revert back to the original question.
Artist2: The original question? Um, yeah. The shape of the cube is an isometric cube.
Natascha: Yes. Thank you. And where did you learn about isometric? And, like, what inspired the isometric cube?
Artist2: Well, I actually teach a lot of, uh, I teach art at the juvenile detention facility here in town. Yeah, so I teach how to do 2D or. I’m sorry. Two. Two point perspective and three point perspective and things like that. So I’ve been working with kind of geometric stuff like this for a little while. Um, but in an educator capacity. But I kind of take my, my work home with me a little bit by drawing things like this for myself, you know? So this is actually a logo of sorts. Um, a shout out of sorts for the business that I’m starting with my cousin.
Natascha: Um, what’s the business name?
Artist2: It’s called Faux Real Design Group.
Artist2: Cool for real design group FAUX.
Artist2: And it actually says F A U X.
Artist2: R e a l.
Natascha: Oh, I see it. So, so, um, and then we do.
Artist2: He does, uh, augmented reality on top of my artwork.
Natascha: Wow.
Artist2: So if you scan this QR code, you can actually activate activate the the augmented reality on your phone.
Natascha: Sweet. I’ll tag it in the blog. I really appreciate your time and your art and what you do for the community. That’s awesome. Thank you.
Artist2: Thank you.
Natascha: Hi. What’s your tag name?
Artist3: Uh, Lauren Wheeler. Oh, tag. Uh, I’m. For what? For this. Okay. Yeah. Or. Yeah. Uh, 21 bangers over Instagram.
Artist3: What does this piece mean to you- Politically.
Artist3: Politically?
Natascha: Yeah.
Artist3: Uh, I’m not into politics, so it doesn’t have anything to do.
Natascha: So is it anti-political?
Artist3: It ain’t. Anti anything. It’s it’s it’s pro thinking.
Natascha: Um, you don’t feel like there’s revolutions going on all the time when people protest and speak up?
Artist3: Well, I feel like revolutions just puts you right back into the same spot. It’s an evolution that has to happen.
Natascha: Do you think that happens within, or do you think that happens on a governmental level, on a whole country level.
Artist3: That happens within because it’s thought that put us into these spots. It’s thought that even is going on right now. Everything is only a thought and people’s been killed to think this thought for many years. And then everybody thinks the same thought about the revolt or what’s going on with the government or the money or all this thing. Right? So to evolve, you got to think drastically different and not in those terms.
Natascha: If people are looking for healing, what kind of community do you recommend to find healing in.
Artist3: The same vibration.
Natascha: All right. Thank you very much.
Artist3: Yeah. Thank you.
“The people shouldn’t confirm around the community, the community should confirm around the people.
Lauren Wheeler
Natascha: Hi. What’s your tag name?
Artist4: Uh, my name is Zevo. Z-E-V-O.
Natascha: All right. Zevo, I was wondering, what part of your culture has influenced your tag piece today?
Artist4: Uh, so I’m Chicano, and the Chicano handstyle really influenced me. The old English letters and stuff like that. It’s a big part of my culture.
Natascha: All right. It’s super dope. And where are you from?
Artist4: I’m from Santa Barbara. Socal.
Natascha: Okay. All right. Thank you so much.
Natascha: Hey, what’s your tag name?
Artist5: My tag name is Golden Flower underscore CA.
Natascha: This is a really awesome piece. What is the hand in the in the snake represent to you?
Artist5: To me it represents a connectedness with the water as well. And, yeah, the symbols of just, something humanistic or creature like. Yeah.
Natascha: What about SEON? What does that represent?
Artist5: So this is a collaboration with my friend from Chile. And so this is supposed to be some type of compass. And that is literally the country of Chile in a chili like pepper form.
Natascha: I love it. That totally brings the two pieces together. Thanks for the explanation.
Natascha: Hi Christopher, I love this piece that I’m looking at. Can you tell me a little bit about your style?
Artist 6: Um, yeah. Just try to keep it sharp and clean and vicious looking. And we’re doing, we’re doing a comic book called the Max. Kind of like a tribute to it and putting our own graffiti twist to it.
Natascha: Okay. Thank you so much. It looks sick.
Natascha: Hi, Erica. This is a really beautiful, feminine piece that you put up here at CanniFest. Can you tell me a little bit about the story behind this piece?
Artist7: Well, quick blurb. We have our queen bee and her best buds, and it’s- I’ve been messing around with doing figurative work with creature heads, alluding to a more feral side of things that we often don’t acknowledge and probably should acknowledge more.
Natascha: All right, I see that absolutely.
Artist7: -Know your monsters. I like to paint a lot of the animals that are often given a bad rep and, you know, misunderstood monsters and bees are definitely one of them. So we gave a feminine woman with a bee head and her beast buds.
Natascha: Awesome. Thank you for keeping it fresh, I love it.
Artist7: Yeah. Thank you.
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Little Lost Forest 